News items and comments

It is silly to expect Blanchett to understand the issues. She is merely parroting her paid mentors .. Her work life depends on her taking this foolish position.

WHILE there would be few regrets if Russell Crowe's ill-advised reboot of Robin Hood had never been made, calling for a boycott on all of his leading lady Cate Blanchett's films seems rather unnecessa...

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He has a point, even if he doesn't make it well. The bias is not secret. Writing teams have briefs.

Until the Hamidur Rahman issue is finished I cannot trust NSW Police

HE NEGOTIATED with a madman threatening to blow up a plane at Sydney Airport, helped arrest notorious gunman Ronald Ryan, Prince Charles requested him as a bodyguard and he was a national surf-lifesav...

The policy is abysmal, and savages legal operation while supporting illegal activity like lots of ALP policy. But organized crime has a powerful political reach, as NSW saw with ALP over sixteen years

OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott is considering dropping the Coalition's campaign against the Government's plain tobacco packaging legislation over concerns it was taking too much political heat over the...

Insane Wilkie disappointed but won't withdraw support. A bit like ALP members

A KEY independent yesterday described Julia Gillard's Malaysia Solution as an "abomination" - threatening the refugee swapping deal and the federal government's political mandate.

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No sane person wants Mexico's criminal influence. It is drug related, but unlike some small third world nation there is reach from the population which can extend anywhere, like with Pakistan and the US Presidency

Could work in Australia too .. but isn't really necessary

The Supreme Court got it right this week. Not only is the E-Verify law constitutional, it is commonsense. American jobs should be preserved for Americans and legal workers. Congress should now act to expand E-Verify across the United States.

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And the band played Waltzing Matilda ..

This Memorial Day, we should all be asking ourselves how much we benefit from our American lives. How much do we, our children and those we love benefit from living in this country, and how can we acknowledge that we would not be here without the sacrifice of others?

The head aches, spins, and becomes dizzy at the confusion evidenced by this title – a title that, alas, seems to describe reasonably accurately the attitude of Medicare advocates: ‘Don’t mess with my Medicare!’

But I can’t help but ask: how can government possibly keep its hands off of Americans’ Medicare benefits given that it’s the very hands of government – andonly those hands – that create Medicare benefits to begin with? The process by which $$ is taken from Mr. and Ms. Young and given as Medicare benefits to Mr. and Ms. Elder necessarily involves the hands of government. If government kept its hands off of Medicare benefits no such benefits would exist in the first place.

Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (05:51 am)

It emerged yesterday that three of the signatories – [Sydney restaurateur Christine] Manfield, Boost Juice founder Janine Allis and Melbourne priest Bob Maguire – were not aware their names were being used as part of the advertising campaign, and do not even agree with Canberra’s proposed carbon tax.

“I’m not agreeing with Julia Gillard on that one, I think it’s a really wimpy way out,” Manfield told The Australian.

“It’s just another f…king tax – it doesn’t solve anything.”

Interestingly, Manfield subsequently tried to backtrack following an angry directive from the taxation sisterhood:

Manfield later sought to retract her statements after she said she was “blasted” in a telephone call from an organiser of 1 Million Women, a carbon emissions reduction campaign for which she is an ambassador.

That “one million” number, too, may be subject to inflation. If it runs close to the accuracy of our prominent 140, the actual total will be closer to 978,572. Also in retraction mode is AustralianPolitics.com’s Malcolm Farnsworth, who had this to say on April 29:

Gillard says celebrity is partly about a sense of connection. Who will rid of us this dreadful woman?

But Farnsie changes his tune when – by deft use of carbon tax magic – a frivolous celebrity transforms into an “Australian citizen”:

The dumbed-down populism of the tabloid press is nothing new but it has about it now a vehemence and viciousness that can still surprise, especially in its casual, off-hand dismissal of an Australian citizen’s right to speak her mind.

Just a second, Mal. Wouldn’t it indicate “dumbed-down populism” if we took seriously an actress’s views on complex economic and scientific matters? I’d take this argument further, but I’m busy trying to find out if Posh Spice has said anything important about the arrest of Ratko Mladic.

Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (05:25 am)

Farmers fear a carbon tax will cost them $36,000 a year and seriously threaten SA’s $3.4 billion grain industry.

National Farmers Federation president Jock Laurie called for the tax to be rejected and said the federation’s research into the impacts on input costs for fuel, feed and other necessities found that a $36-a-tonne tax would cost each grain farmer more than $36,000 a year.

Only 36 grand? That’s nothing. Why, I know of one woman who can pay that much every 12 months until the year 3483.

Tim Blair – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (04:15 am)

A couple more weeks of blogging will make it a full year since I joined the Green Prophet team writing on Eco-Islam. I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and learnt a lot about writing green blogs for Muslims, which is why I have put together a short guide to green blogging for Muslims!

Has this been approved by our old mate at Ask an Imam? Apparently solar heating is banned in hot countries, which takes Australia out of the picture.

Tim Blair – Monday, May 30, 11 (10:18 pm)

Tim Blair – Monday, May 30, 11 (01:48 pm)

Over the weekend, several of Australia’s most ridiculous people gathered in Canberra to work out how to change the weather.

Climate change minister Greg Combet, Greens senator Christine Milne and Independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor joined Labor pet economist Ross Garnaut in discussions to work out a starting price for the carbon dioxide tax – the purpose of which is to somehow turn down the global thermostat a notch or two by making you poorer.

It’s a case of the unelectable leading the unrepresentative towards the impossible. Consider the colourful characters in this carbon circus.

A letter containing the signatures of 140 “Australian leaders” and community groups was delivered to Parliament House in Canberra yesterday. The group is calling on the federal government to put a price on carbon.

But it emerged yesterday that three of the signatories—Manfield, Boost Juice founder Janine Allis and Melbourne priest Bob Maguire—were not aware their names were being used as part of the advertising campaign, and do not even agree with Canberra’s proposed carbon tax.

“I’m not agreeing with Julia Gillard on that one, I think it’s a really wimpy way out,” Manfield told The Australian.

“It’s just another f . . king tax—it doesn’t solve anything.”

But then the thought police crack down on this dangerous outbreak of someone thinking for themselves:

Manfield later sought to retract her statements after she said she was “blasted” in a telephone call from an organiser of 1 Million Women, a carbon emissions reduction campaign for which she is an ambassador.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (06:40 am)

One of the problems facing Julia Gillard is that so many of those who speak the loudest about the need to reduce carbon emissions have a personal carbon emissions footprint that would be the envy of most Australians.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (06:35 am)

Ideologically, Abbott doesn’t like to be pigeonholed and he is indeed hard to describe with one label. “Right wing” is misleading. He’s conservative on moral questions but on a range of policy issues he’s much more in the centre. He was never an industrial relations hardliner of the Howard ilk. Once, his tough attitudes on welfare might have been labelled “right”, but the debate has shifted; he, Gillard and even a charity such as Mission Australia stand on the same ground.

He describes himself as both liberal (in the sense of giving a priority to freedom and choice) and conservative. “I think I’m very much part of the Australian mainstream, and I’d be disappointed with myself if I wasn’t,” he says. “A good leader, I mean every successful national leader, has transcended category.”

The plan could bridge the biggest divide between Labor, which has committed to a reduction target of 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, and the Greens, who want a 25-40 per cent target and who voted against Kevin Rudd’s carbon pollution reduction scheme because it set a “ceiling” of 5 per cent.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (06:06 am)

Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey also needs to keep his nose clean in these affairs. He still has the job ahead of him to consolidate his hold on the key economic portfolio and demonstrate that he has a vision for economic reform.

But he chose to ignore us. In a letter in The Australian Financial Review:

This article claims my budget address at the National Press Club was light on detail yet fails to mention it was a collaborative effort with the Coalition economic team, including Tony Abbott, Andrew Robb and other senior policy-makers....

The Treasurer in question time:

We have seen today the absolutely extraordinary effort from the shadow treasurer who’s started to blame all of his colleagues for the shocker that he had at the press club.

UPDATE

For heaven’s sake, could someone tell Hockey and Turnbull that it’s not about them but their party - and the country:

“Since I took over as the opposition’s treasury spokesman, the reverse is now the case,” he said in the letter to The Australian Financial Review.

Replying to criticism of his recent National Press Club speech on the budget, Mr Hockey also wrote that his speech was a “collaborative effort with the Coalition economic team, including Tony Abbott, Andrew Robb and other senior policymakers”.

Senior opposition members described this defence as childish.

Still, the one consolation for Tony Abbott is that while Turnbull and Hockey duke it out, they won’t unite against him.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (05:47 am)

Yet allowing for a margin of error, Labor is still not out of it, thanks to Turnbull:

Despite two weeks of publicity about infighting and squabbles within the Liberal Party, and a concerted government campaign against the Opposition Leader, there has been virtually no change in the party standings.

According to the latest Newspoll survey, conducted exclusively for The Australian last weekend, the Coalition’s primary vote fell from 46 per cent to 44 per cent over the past fortnight, while Labor’s rose one point to 34 per cent and the Greens jumped four percentage points to 14 per cent.

Despite his intervention on climate change, Abbott’s leadership is proving successful and durable and there will be Liberal MPs who will wonder what the polls would be like this week if there hadn’t been two weeks of self-inflicted damage.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (12:04 am)

If John Hewson is going to be a spruiker for Julia Gillard’s carbon dioxide tax, he should at least declare a potential conflict of interest.

After all, a company such as Change Investment Management would greatly benefit from a tax designed to drive us off coal-fired power to “green” alternatives:

The fund is a global equities fund with a highly targeted focus on quality sustainable businesses in the water, waste management, food and agriculture, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and smart grid infrastructure sectors…

There has already been a strong global economic shift towards renewable energy, clean technology and energy efficiency. This trend will accelerate with the continued development of government mandated renewable energy targets around the world, energy security concerns, commitment of public funds and groundswell of private investment into low carbon energy…

The Change Opportunities Fund is designed for sophisticated investors seeking sustainable superior returns today and into the future. Contact us for full details.

Andrew Bolt – Tuesday, May 31, 11 (12:04 am)

When the wind don’t blow, the power doesn’t flow - and when the wind don’t blow for decades to come...:

...climate experts are warning that many of Britain’s wind farms may soon run out of puff.... According to government figures, 13 of the past 16 months have been calmer than normal - while 2010 was the “stillest” year of the past decade.

Q. Do you support or oppose the Government’s recent announcement to introduce a carbon pricing scheme from 1 July 2012, which will require industries to pay a tax based on the amount of carbon pollution they emit?

Andrew Bolt – Monday, May 30, 11 (03:57 pm)

Which makes it even crazier for Australia to slash its own emissions, unilaterally:

AUSTRALIA’S mining industry has seized on the refusal of three major economies to sign on to a new round of Kyoto Protocol emissions cuts, as Tony Abbott warned even a business-endorsed $10-a-tonne carbon price would cost jobs.

That makes 159 boat people to arrive since the provisional agreement with Malaysia to swap 800 of ours for 4000 of theirs was announced. That’s 159 of the 800 spots filled already. No reason yet to say the (unsigned) deal has failed, but the Government won’t want many more boats to arrive.

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..